Fraser warns on petrol price collusion

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser says the government is prepared to take action if petrol stations are colluding over fuel prices.

14 August 2009

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser says the government is prepared to take action if petrol stations are colluding over fuel prices.

The price of unleaded fuel at many outlets in Brisbane rose to 137.9 a litre on Thursday - equal with Sydney as the highest unleaded petrol price of any capital city.

On Friday many outlets were selling petrol for 136.7 cents a litre in southeast Queensland , but unleaded fuel could be bought for as low as 118 cents a litre in Brisbane.

Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said the price hike showed the folly of the government cutting the eight cents a litre fuel subsidy in July.

Mr Nicholls said prices were likely to rise even further as the economy improved.

"Motorists are going to have to pay more and we are seeing the prospect of things in the economy coming better and inflation coming back," Mr Nicholls told ABC radio.

Mr Fraser said the fuel subsidy was never fully passed on by retailers in any case, so the impact of its abolition was not as great as the opposition stated.

But he said the government was prepared to take action if evidence of collusion or price fixing came to light.

"The Office of Fair Trading has provided a series of briefs to the ACCC (consumer watchdog) and to the petrol price commissioner based on complaints made to it," Mr Fraser said.

"Some of them relate to pricing."

But he said collusion was different to price movements and petrol stations making a profit.

"When it comes to petrol prices I think there is a lot of community attention based on billboards that are out the front (of petrol stations) and over time the places that offer the better competitive market will get more customers," he said.

Drive Comments

0 Comments

Facebook Comments

Share

Width

Profile

Rim

The size of your tyre is located on the sidewall of your tyre.It will be similar to the sample below.